The Journal

Two • Maeve • February 24

Hey, I know I haven't written in this for a few days, but I have a perfectly good excuse.

The world ended on Tuesday, before I left for school. It took five days after that for the world as I knew it to come to an end.

Honestly I thought that the end of the world would have been...more of a commotion. Instead, it was just kind of a slow downfall into "The End".

It started with the announcements.

The blonde television announcer looked dead serious as Dad got off the phone with a work buddy and turned on the news.

"There has been an emergency at a research facility in Pennsylvania, United States. The subjects inside the facility had been very sick people with a highly contagious disease which might have been released when three escaped early Friday morning—"

Mom gasped, and glass shattered. I spun around on the couch and saw her standing in the kitchen with her hand still outstretched holding an imaginary coffee mug that was now all over the hardwood floor. I stood to help her clean it up but she waved me away.

"Go pack your things. We're leaving to your grandma's house for the week."

A bit startled, I ran up the stairs, taking two at a time, sliding on the hardwood in my wool socks. I tried not to think too hard about what leaving may mean as I made it to my room and grabbed the suitcase I had always partially packed in the back of my walk-in closet. It wasn't packed in cases of emergency, it was only there because my parents and I travelled often and it was always a hassle to keep repacking my things. Throwing it on my bed I went to the bathroom and tossed in as many toiletries and hygiene products I believed I would need for who knew how long.

Because it was still winter out, I wore whatever warm layers wouldn't fit in my suitcase. By the time I was standing outside next to my dad's red three-quarter-tonne truck, I felt like an overstuffed penguin; three pairs of wool socks, a pair of combat boots, leggings under jeans under sweats, two tank-tops with two t-shirts and one long-sleeved shirt with a thick school hoodie and my heavy winter jacket with a soft fur lining. Two hats (a toque and baseball cap) and a running headband was on my head. I had a pair of gloves and mittens on my hands, with a heavy-duty winter work pair in my pocket.

"Ready?" Mom came up beside me, lifting her purple suitcase next to my bright green one.

I nodded, but honestly that couldn't have been farther from the truth. I had absolutely zero interest in leaving behind my life if this turned into a long-term situation. What would happen to my friends?

"Mom, what are Sarah, O.J., and Kayla going to do? Will they stay here? Are they going to get infected?"

"I already called their parents. The girls and their families are meeting us at our underground place," Mom kissed my forehead. "Everything is going to be fine."

I took a deep breath and got in the truck, sitting behind my mom who was in the passenger's seat. Dad dumped some heavy stuff into the back of his truck that shook the vehicle, and jumped behind the wheel. He put it into reverse and we drove down our street to the main road.

In order to get to my Grandma Johnson's house, we had to go through town and out the other side. There was just no other way. Dad sped, but I guess the police either weren't concerned with my dad's bad driving habits, or they were all at home with their families doing the exact same thing as us—leaving. Although the state of Pennsylvania was nowhere near us (I mean, come on, my dad was being a little paranoid, right?) the idea of three escapees from some top-secret hush-hush government research building was terrifying enough to put Canadians into a panic. Dad had to swerve to avoid mass collisions multiple times, and my knuckles were probably white on the back of Mom's seat (I still hadn't taken off my gloves so I wasn't sure).